Mobile video: the biggest growth area in India

According to a recent survey conducted by Google in partnership with IPSOS and the MMA (Mobile Marketing Association), Mobile internet TV is one of the biggest growth areas in India. It further found that about one-third of smatphone users in India used their smartphones to watch TV.

Currently the average TV household penetration in India is almost 65%, with about 88% penetration in urban regions. This shows tremendous opportunities for live over-the-top (OTT) content and mobile internet TV for those households that currently have no existing terrestrial infrastructure, cable or satellite services.Besides this huge potential, many operators haven’t launched their video streaming services primarily because it involves major investment into hardware and infrastructure. However, operators have a solution for this. Instead of investing on infrastructure and hardware, operators can leave the hosting to third party service providers.

NyooTV, BIGFlix and Eros Now are some companies which have already launched their paid-for streaming services which are quite successful amongst the Indian users. If the video quality is good and is delivered fast, then Indian users have no qualms paying for it.A recent survey conducted by Vidiator found that around 88% of Indian users would consider paying for mobile video now or in the future and about 54% have already paid to access content.A PwC study commissioned by Vidiator forecasts that by 2015, there will be 176 million OTT viewers in India generating revenues of $552 million.